As 2008 comes to an end, the last few weeks have been VERY busy. Lots of new things getting us ready for the new year. We enjoyed a great Christmas with family in the new house in Crown Point, IN. It's very strange(in a great way) when your parents move into a new, bigger house. It was time for a change, and this is a great way to start the new year. If you are looking for a new home in the south suburbs, let me know, as my parents are selling their home on "just about an acre!"

Speaking of parents, our friends Sean & Hillary, are starting off the new year as NEW parents. On Saturday 12/27/08, Sean & Hillary welcomed Noah Harold into their family. We "wrapped" up our Christmas weekend with a visit to the hospital to see the new parents and Noah, who happened to be born the same weekend as the winter floods of 2008. Mmmmm?? Interesting!

We wish you and your family a very Happy New Year, and all the best for 2009!

The holidays are here...and we can not believe it's that time of the year again. It seems like we just went down this path not to long ago. Things are different this year in many ways. Our families seem closer than ever, and that is gift enough. There are so many positive things that happened over the last 12 months...everything from my parents building a new house to surviving corporate layoffs to getting involved more at church.

I think one of the hardest adjustments is the way our family is different from last year with loosing Grandpa in August. There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about some memory of snowmobiling or spending time in the garage with the cars or riding go-carts in the tennis cart under the watchful eye of Grandpa and my father.

At his funeral, we heard great stories of how Grandpa had affected people lives thru the relationships he had at the liquor store. One of the most interesting stories was how he used to buy turkeys for those who couldn't around the holidays. We will never know all the details, but his generosity and concern for others was clear. Danielle and I had discussed it when things calmed down, and we wanted to continue Grandpa's tradition of helping those in need. We know it had been years since he took the time to do this, but we wanted to start it up again this year. Danielle talked to our pastor and found three families who were in need for Thanksgiving. One of the things that was discussed at church was to use the gifts you have, which don't always mean money, but other talents or time. We figured we would combine a little bit of all of them into something that would honor Grandpa's memory and help those in need. Since Grandpa was always planning for our future thru investments, we figured we would invest some money in three families and buy them a turkey. We used our connections thru the radio stations to get Baker's Square pie certificates, and were able to get each family a pumpkin & apple pie for free. We decided to take our time for "Tuesday Night Date Night" and drive from Elgin to Algonquin to Crystal Lake and drop off the food personally. Danielle had taken the time to research a turkey recipe and craft a little personal note to each family that was stapled to each bag.

"Tom Turkey Time" before Stop 1

We spent our own Thanksgiving in Appleton, WI this year with Danielle's family. After a very difficult week of layoffs and extra work, we finally made it up north. We were able to spend time doing fun things together. Danielle & Lynn spent time making cookies, which made their way back to our home. Rick, Geoff & I were able to finish the details of their new flat screen TV and blue-ray DVD player. They are watching TV in style with a new 35 inch HD flatscreen. Looks and sounds good.

This past Saturday, we finished all the home Christmas decorations by driving to Pine-Apple Farms to cut our fresh tree. By the name, you can tell they sell trees and apples. We walked a HUGE field in search of the perfect tree. At least I didn't pull a Griswold, and forget a saw.


Our tree was "squirrel proof"

We thought this would be PERFECT! Not!

After 15 minutes of searching, we found it.

Nothing better than laying in snow and using a hack-saw
to say "MERRY CHRISTMAS"

Me...Caveman...
You...Tree...
Me...Come with tree!

The Finished Product

Saturday night, we had an unexpected surprise from Michele & Domenic...Free tickets to the Bulls game at the United Center. Danielle has never experienced a Bull's game, so this was an adventure for her. All the different games and activities during down times of the game were very entertaining.

One of the best parts of the game was the fact that if the Bull's scored over 100 points and won, we won free a Big Mac from McDonald's. Enough said!

There is more time before Christmas and New Year's...
so we have many more things planned to get us to the end of the year....

And remember...the great Christmas Cat "Bud" says "Merry Christmas" and make sure to scroll up to the top of the page to enjoy some of our favorite holiday videos.